Every few nights for the past month or two, me and Ernesto wake up to Kiera screaming. She usually does this at about two in the morning. When we go in her room she is either lying down or sitting up in bed. She's shaking and her eyes are open. And she's crying. Sometimes it's a whimper, other times it's as if she's having a temper tantrum in her sleep. Inconsolable and crying loudly. At first we tried to reason with her. Kiera, what's the matter? It's okay baby, we're here. Even though she was obviously not awake. But it's a helpless feeling. We want to wake her up. We want to reassure her. And for god's sake, we just want our sleep. But nothing works. She won't wake up and we shouldn't try to wake her up according to the article we read today. It would only cause more confusion and frustration. But we can't help asking her questions while she's having an episode. Do you want some water? Are you having a bad dream? Do you want me to rub your back? And she never answers. You know why? Because she's asleep! Even though we know this, we can't help but try to communicate with her. Last night Ernesto was trying to help her. Nothing was working. Then I said, I'll take over honey. I know how to handle this. All I have to do is rub her back. Yes, I thought my mommy skills would work like a charm. But no. She didn't want me to touch her. She just seemed confused and started screaming louder. After about ten minutes she just rolled over and fell silent. Back to blissful, peaceful sleep. Back to dreamland...although she never left it.
I'm not sure if we should take her to a doctor yet. Apparently night terrors is a common phenomenon in children ages 3 to 8. We read that it could be caused by a disturbance in her sleep cycle, and she has been staying up later because our summer schedule is much more relaxed. So back to the normal bed time routine. If she's still having night terrors, then a doctor visit will be in our near future. We also read that night seizures can look the same as night terrors. This is a disturbing thought, and we hope that's not the case.
Yeah, so hopefully we'll get back to a full night's sleep. At least until Beckett arrives.
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11 years ago
I feel your pain, Sonya! Ina has night terrors too and they are so scary. She has them the worst during times when we are transitioning, like getting ready to move or coming home from vacation. We found that waking her up a bit before the time of night that the terror usually happens will usually solve it. She has them between 1am-2am so if I go in at midnight and turn her over it's enough to start a new sleep cycle and avoid the terror. And definitely don't wake her up, that makes it so much worse and makes it last longer.
ReplyDeleteHope this phase passes soon!!
hmmmm...i wonder if that is what aidah has.. it's just every once in awhile but it is ugly, she just screams and screams and can't ever tell us why. i'll have to read up on it. hope you get some good sleep and kiera gets some peace!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah F. and Sarah F. Man. You guys have the same first name and same initials. Forzetting, that's a good idea. If Kiera keeps this up, I'll try waking her up around midnight or one. I just want this to stop before the baby comes! I don't want two crying kids at night! And Fredlund, that sounds like night terrors to me. at least it doesn't happen very often and thank goodness it's just a phase they go through!
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